Arrieta Signing Could Shake Things Up

The signing of Jairo Arrieta could mean a change in how we see the Crew line up, according to
head coach Robert Warzycha.

When Arrieta and Olman Vargas played together for Deportivo Saprissa during the 2009-10 season,
Vargas said the club employed a 4-3-3 formation with him up top and Arrieta on the left wing. When
I brought this up to Warzycha, he smiled.

“Sometimes you have to play that way,” he said. “It depends on if you are chasing the game. It
would be a perfect option to have him over there. We could play with three forwards sometimes.
Sometimes he plays as a left winger but we played against Saprissa last year and he played as a
second forward. I think he plays any position up front.”

The Crew first extended an offer to Arrieta during the winter around the same time it announced
Vargas’ signing, but Saprissa was loathe to part ways with him after losing Josue Martinez to the
Philadelphia Union.

“They wouldn’t survive this half season, playing-wise but also their fan base,” technical
director Brian Bliss said. “They decided they would hold this guy until May. We looked at some
other options and kept coming up with Arrieta was the best guy at the price we could afford. We got
to the point where we were close enough to the window to re-offer him and now we don’t have to pay
a transfer fee.”

Although he will not join the Crew until June 27, Arrieta’s signing was announced today for
several reasons.

“It’s awful difficult to keep these things under wraps,” Bliss said. “I also think it sends a
message to our team that we are actively looking to increase our overall roster. I think it sends a
message to the fans that we’re looking to increase the depth of our roster. I think getting it out
there makes a little bit of sense.”

Vargas’ assimilation into the Crew’s roster was anything but seamless. He spent most of the
preseason training with the reserves and came off the bench in the season opener before breaking
into the starting lineup March 24 against Montreal and scoring his first MLS goal. It is hoped that
Arrieta will have fewer issues because of the timing of his transfer.

“Because Olman is here and they know each other pretty well, that adjustment process, I hope,
will be shorter than with Olman,” Warzycha said. “I think what Arrieta is bringing is he’s playing
right now. He’s fit and he’s playing for a team. With Olman, he finished a season and he got
injured and didn’t practice so he wasn’t fit. With Arrieta it’s a different story.

“He’s a busy player,” Warzycha added. “He’s not a big guy, but he can hold his own with the
bigger defenders. He’s busy and very opportunistic and has experience with the national team and
the first division in Costa Rica. I think he’s going to bring some experience.”

Moves Forthcoming – In order to make room for Arrieta, the Crew will have to transfer someone to
the disabled list. Forward Tommy Heinemann and goalkeeper William Hesmer are both likely out for
the season, which would free up an active spot, but the problem lies not in the number of bodies
under contract but with how much the Crew is spending on its roster.

According to Bliss, the league wants the Crew to get back down to 30 players at some point.
Arrieta will push the roster to 32 players.

“You can make the room with these guys on IR but you’ve also got to have the money,” he said. “
It will be more a money issue than a numbers issue with us and eventually we’re going to have to
get down to 30 guys, especially when Arrieta gets here. You can’t continue to go down this path and
keep drawing money down because when we go to release a player they’re going to say, ‘That guy’s
been on your roster too long for full recovery of the money.’ ”

With the club still in pursuit of a designated player to be added once the transfer window
opens, Bliss said that will further complicate matters.

“We’re eventually going to have to make some moves,” he said. “The league hasn’t exactly said
when but when we put in for the Arrieta thing they said, ‘You’re on borrowed time now, so how are
you going to solve this?’

“Any move we make now is going to cause a ripple effect for sure.”

Designated Pursuit – Bliss also confirmed that the Crew remains in on the same group of names it
has been chasing for the past four months for the designated players pot. He is hoping to fly to
South America in early or mid-May to meet with the team’s top candidate as well as his agent and
club owner to try and make major progress on a deal.

“It’s difficult to do over the phone,” Bliss said. “We want to see general body language and
sincerity. We need to see if it can happen or stop having these phone conversations and move on to
something else. I’m trying to schedule that (soon) so we can either put it to bed or move on.”